The Most Unlikely Pair
by TTY7
Summary: They were the most unlikely pair, so unlikely that it was a laughable concept to some. Even so, these two managed the great impossibility of fitting perfectly together without any effort at all.


A/N: Boredom does wonderful things to the brain sometimes.

Warnings: I use the English names.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh.

_The Most Unlikely Pair_

They were the most unlikely pair, so unlikely that it was a laughable concept to some. Even so, these two managed the great impossibility of fitting perfectly together without any effort at all.

These were the thoughts that filled Tea Gardner's mind as she paced back and forth in front of the full length mirror. Her cerulean blue eyes darted around the small sitting room she was in to keep from locking on her image in the mirror. The sight that would befall them was almost too frightening for words. Eventually though, Tea's eyes did meet the wretched mirror, causing her to stop mid-pace as she took in the simple but beautiful white strapless mermaid style beaded wedding gown. Her make-up is to perfection with her lips painted in a perfect shade of pink, the foundation made her skin glow, and there was enough eye-shadow on her eyes to be noticeable but still tasteful. After all, you can't look tacky at your own wedding.

Tea almost threw up a bit in her mouth at the thought, forcing her back into the frantic pacing once more. With her mother, Mai, Rebecca, and Vivian in the room (she really needed more female friends) she had felt genuine excitement for the day at first. Unfortunately the excitement was dying out, simultaneously bringing a sense of dread and terror that shook her body to the core.

The young, talented dancer had envisioned this day ever since grade school, maybe even before grade school when she was just a toddler in diapers. She had envisioned a simple ceremony with lots of flowers and a romantic outdoor scenery fit for the springtime. Tea was known for being a little tomboyish at times, but she had frilly girly moments, just about all of them centering on this one day.

Tea's mother had made it her priority to bring her daughter's vision to life to the point where it stretched the limits of the tight budget laid out by the groom. There were a lot of headaches over the details and even two or three fights over cake, flowers, decorations, etc. Thankfully most of the fights were between the bride and her mother. The groom was pretty much excluded from all the planning except the flavor of the cake. The guy was determined to have chocolate cake despite Tea's express requests for a white cake with strawberry filling.

The two of them made a compromise on the cake, but it's not like it really mattered anyway. The cake, flowers, and all the other things that go into a wedding hardly count when you get to the heart of the matter and oh boy was Tea literally feeling the heart of the matter now. Along with the pacing came erratic breaths, nausea, dizziness, and most importantly heart palpitations.

And all of this madness came on by one sobering thing Vivian brought to her attention twenty minutes earlier.

Tea Wheeler

That was to be her new name after the ceremony. The poor girl had been so preoccupied with all the wedding plans that she'd completely forgotten the fact her name was going to change, that her name would tell the world she married the guy no one expected her to marry. Up until a year or so ago, Tea had never considered the possibility of ever marrying her friend Joey Wheeler. She'd contemplated on marrying Yugi, had put her first name next to his last name a few times. She had liked the sound of it then, even fell in love with it...but then Yugi married Rebecca and she took his last name instead.

With that crossed off Tea's list, she privately joked with herself and paired her last name with Tristan's. She instantly hated it and besides that he was in love with Joey's sister so that wasn't going to work on any level. Then, after a particularly bad date night in the bustling city of New York, she ran into Seto Kaiba unexpectedly. The two of them actually had a good time together that night and went on a few dates afterwards. Like before, Tea paired her first name with the Kaiba name and found herself liking the idea despite some major drawbacks in the personality department. Unfortunately, it turned out that Seto Kaiba was in love with another woman, Ishizu Ishtar.

The jerk even went so far as to send a rejection letter in the mail.

In any case, after that incident Tea pretty much gave up on love. For another year she poured her heart into dancing, even landed some awesome jobs including a supporting role in a broadway production. Life was going good. She had a steady income, money to spare for awesome clothes, and a nice apartment right in the middle of Manhattan where all the action was.

Then, out of nowhere, Tea became horribly home sick. She missed the familiar and welcoming sight of Domino City, missed the good times she used to share with her friends, and most importantly she had just lost her dream job, which unfortunately, forced her into bankruptcy.

With that came a plethora of problems and issues, but Tea combatted it with a smile, packed up her dream apartment in her favorite place in all the world, and took the plane ride of shame all the way back to the humble town of Domino. After that, Tea took the walk of shame back to the apartment her mother kept in reserve for her "just in case things don't work out in New York," paranoia.

Talk about taking the iconic phrase of "I told you so," to new heights.

To make matters all the worse, on her way to the apartment it started to rain. Since Tea couldn't pay to take a cab home, she ended up soaking wet from the walk. Then, once she finally made it to her destination, it turned out that she didn't have a key to this "emergency" apartment and there was no spare key anywhere in sight.

In those frustrating moments, Tea found herself completely homeless and in desperate need of a laugh.

Joey finally came to mind.

He came to her aid right away, picking her up in a beat-up truck looking as exhausted as she felt on the inside. A hello was exchanged with a couple of "how you've been," phrases on the side as Joey lifted up her heavy bags into the back of the truck. Tea pulled herself into the front seat, shivering and dripping all the while. After another few seconds Joey got in the driver's side, pulling the door closed behind him before smiling over at her with a sly grin.

"Tea, you look awful."

Normally a comment like that would earn Joey a smack and a stream of angry words, but this time, Tea found herself laughing hysterically at him. She clutched her sides, trying in vain to get a grip of herself as tears began to fall from her eyes. The laughs slowly turned into sobs and somewhere between the tears and the rain dripping on the windshield, Joey wrapped his arms around her, listening attentively as she bawled about all the problems relentlessly attacking her sanity.

One thing led to another and suddenly, Tea found herself lip-locked with someone she never imagined locking lips with.

A year later brings her to this day, the wedding that no one foresaw happening on any level. After all, when Joey and Tea first met, they weren't found of each other. Actually, they pretty much hated each other's guts. First impressions made Joey look like a stupid, arrogant jerk who enjoyed preying on the weaker students. During that time, his main target had been Yugi. When she stepped in to help, Joey saw her as a busybody who had nothing better to do but aggravate him.

Other instances came into play though and those instances eventually brought Tea and Joey together as friends...or rivals at the very least.

As time wore on, the two of them began to rely on one another for support and honesty. In Duelist Kingdom, Joey and Tea began to fall in love, with other people of course. For Joey it was Mai Valentine and for Tea it was the mysterious spirit within Yugi's Millennium Puzzle.

Before the events of Battle City, Tea often struggled with the idea of losing Yugi and the spirit to their destinies. She worried that they'd walk out of her life before she could figure out which one of them she truly loved.

Joey's struggles with love were a bit different. He was a typical guy when it came to the matters of women and their complicated hearts. In other words, he was utterly clueless.

This point became clear during Battle City when he let his insecurities about Mai cloud his judgement. She hadn't been looking for love then, only an reassurance that the two of them were friends. Instead of giving her that simple gift, he shot it down, never thinking of what was going on in her head.

Tea made it a point to yell in his ear about the ordeal before Mai's tragic duel with Marik.

From there, the lines of love became blurred.

The young dancer found herself worrying about Joey more often, especially when he confided in her about his plan to defeat Marik to free Mai from the realm of shadows, even if it meant his own life.

That last part frightened her, took precedence in her thoughts when the time for him to duel against Marik arrived. When the dark clouds of the Shadow Realm covered the field, Tea's heart dropped into her stomach. For the rest of the duel she stood as a spectator, hoping against all hopes that Joey could keep the promise he'd made to himself. She hoped he could win despite all the odds.

But Marik wasn't playing fair. He had never played fair during Battle City, so when the time came, he used his Egyptian God Card to wipe the field of Joey's most powerful monster. Tea could still remember watching the flames of the monster's attack encircle him, could still hear the screams that echoed into the wind as the energy drained away from his already battered body.

When the smoke cleared he still stood, much to the surprise of everyone watching. All sorts of emotions filled Tea's heart in that moment. Relief, terror, happiness, and despair were just the tip of the iceberg.

With bated breath she watched one of her best friends draw his last card. She sucked in another as the monster he placed on the field began to appear. She couldn't see his face, but she knew he was smiling, knowing that his victory was but a command away.

Then without warning, he collapsed with a loud and thunderous thud.

The sun appeared, but Tea felt no warmth from it. Her heart was ice, and her ability to breathe disappeared long before Mokuba cried out that the blonde wasn't breathing either. Her knees shook as she rushed to his side along with Tristan, Duke, Yugi, and Serenity. She heard herself pleading with Joey without actually registering the words spoken. All she could see was one of her dearest friends lying lifeless on the ground with no hope of waking up ever again.

She worried that Yugi would fall victim to the same fate. Even when Joey arose later, acting the same as he always did, she was still afraid for them both.

After that, she never stopped worrying.

Tea's heart wasn't given a break during the ordeal with Dartz and his gang of biker rejects. The first blow was when Mai, now back in action, betrayed them in her quest to prove herself to the world as a strong duelist. Tea watched him suffer through wanting to help Mai and knowing that holding back in the duel they were fighting would cost him his own soul. It was Battle City all over again in terms of what was at stake, but the opponent he was fighting against changed the entire nature of the problem.

When the duel ended in a draw, Joey was left an emotional wreak. He was good at hiding his disappointment, his anguish over the unbelievable circumstances thrown in his face, but Tea could see the mental torture he was putting himself through, could see his memories of Battle City and how his rash immaturity had pushed Mai away from them.

Then there was the loss of Yugi.

Tea felt betrayed by the spirit she'd grown to love. By playing the Seal of Oricalcos, he had sealed away her best friend. In hindsight he had driven a stake through the heart of the group. In hours that followed, she saw the pharaoh turn into a man she didn't know, watched his mental state fall apart little by little until he finally snapped during his duel with Weevil Underwood.

Countless tears were shed and many hearts were broken, but Tea managed to hold herself together. She didn't weep for her best friend or for the pharaoh whom she secretly blamed for all the heartache her friends were facing. She didn't voice her anger, instead choosing to banish it from her heart. Hatred wasn't going to solve anything and it certainly wasn't going to bring Yugi back.

However, when Joey was lost to the Oricalcos that night, Tea felt herself slipping. Her control over her emotions began to crumble as she knelt by him with Tristan following in step behind her.

It was the second time she'd seen Joey in that lifeless state.

Tears sprung to her eyes.

She felt guilty, spilling tears for a man who belonged to another. Though to be honest, Tea couldn't see the logic in feeling guilty since that woman was the one who took his soul away.

Maybe it was because she didn't cry for Yugi that the guilt weighed so heavily on her.

Whatever the case may have been, losing Yugi didn't break her. No, that loss broke Rebecca, made her a sniffling mess of tears and angst only a little girl could muster.

That night, staring at Joey's messy blonde locks and the burn marks along his face, Tea felt herself break on the inside as a few tears slipped down her cheeks. Even with that, she pressed forward, never addressing any feelings she may have held for the blonde.

Which is why she can't fathom how she reached this point, how she fell in love with that idiot named Joey Wheeler.

At this point, she may never understand how it happened or why. She believes it may have started during the ceremonial duel that sent Atem into the spirit world. Joey had called her brave then, one of the bravest people he had ever known. The compliment flattered her, but looking back, she realizes his words aren't what put the idea of dating him into her head.

"_If you two start holding each other's hands I'm out of here._"

Tea laughed at the memory, finding it ironic for Kaiba to say such a thing. Maybe the jerk had seen it coming all along. She doubted that man was any sort of matchmaker, but he could read between the lines. Why else would he make a comment like that when they were clearly invested in other people at the time?

Did the questions of how this love came to be matter?

The answer was clear.

With a smile on her face, Tea turned toward the mirror one last time. In five minutes she was going to walk down the aisle to her best friend and exchange vows they'd made long ago. She may never know how she fell in love or how he fell in love with her, only that they were both equally in love with each other. The feelings they held for past loves were completely extinguished from their hearts, replaced by the certainty that no matter the challenge, they'd stand together until the end of time.

Knowing that fact made Tea feel pretty good about herself. After all, she'd been competing with Mai Valentine for a while before Joey finally got a clue.

Yeah, a part of him would always be a bit of an idiot, but it was something the brunette could live with.

They were the most unlikely pair, so unlikely that it was a laughable concept to some. Even so, these two managed the great impossibility of fitting perfectly together without any effort at all.

* * *

A/N: I have got to stop writing random stories like this. Even so, hope you guys found some enjoyment out of this random piece. Truthfully I believe Joey belongs with Mai and Yugi/Atem with Tea, but I like this pairing too because it's not common or obvious. If they were to fall in love, it'd be a gradual thing that the two of them wouldn't realize until a random event occurred or something. Anyway, thanks for reading and have a nice day.


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